Screen Dimming & Volume Loss

I've had this MacBook Pro since late 2007 and the screen has now dimmed (with all settings on maximum brightness). It's not so dim that I can't see most text but most DVD or NetFlix movies are very hard to see.
I've also noticed for a long time that the maximum volume is extremely low. I have another, newer laptop for comparison and I'm sure this isn't normal.
Is this computer failing? Is there a repair solution?
Thanks!

Hi, I have a wonderful mbp since 2 years now, and it has been some weeks now that i don't have audio. No red lights, no chimes at startup. No audio. Did check up with disk but didn't find anything wrong. Reset the nram, but nothing. seems like an hardware problem, but again, it doesn't show anywhere!
Can somebody help me please!!!

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IPhone 4s iOS 6 intermittent screen dims and Ringer volume notification

Seem I am getting intermittent problems which look to be increasing in frequency.
One problem is the screen dimming as though I have turned the screen brightness down to minimum, with no apparent reason.
I've checked the brightness setting and it is set to my usual screen brightness, auto brightness is always off. Touching the screen or home button does nothing and switching apps has no effect either. No particular app is being used at the time so can't pin it down to a buggy app causing it. The only way to restore the brightness is to switch off the phone via the power button.
A similar problem is the dark grey square containing the ringer volume setting, set to the minimum one square appearing without touching the volume buttons. This stays on screen in a similar way to the screen dimming in that. Nothing apart from powering the phone off will remove it.
Also having problems with reduce volume button, could this be the cause of all these problems? This problem is when I'm reducing the volume it actually increases it to the maximum first before reducing it. Again it is intermittent.
Any one with same or similar issues?

Sorry for delay in reply.
I've done the above but to no effect this is still happening.
It is intermittent.

Screen dims and multi-language "restart" message appears

Currently, every time Safari is used, the entire screen dims and a multi-language (German, Chinese, etc.) message comes on the screen saying that I must physically power down my machine and restart. No error message is given, nor are any other options allowed, as the keyboard and mouse are rendered useless.
I have rebooted the machine several times, including powering down the cable modem, but the problem persists.
This problem has occurred in the past, but seemed to clear itself, only to reoccur starting yesterday (23 Sep 05). I can't shake the feeling that this problem is more in the OS X arena than in Safari's, but testing does not seem to bear out my feelings - all other installed applications appear to run properly and this phenomenon of screen dimming with forced power down and restart does not occur with other applications.
Any thoughts? Thanks! Bob Meyer.

I suggest the following:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
If you continue to have the problem, then reinstall the OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 Update (Combo) updater.

Screen dims in itunes based on video content

When watching a video in iTunes my screen dims based on the content of the video to such a level that it's very hard to see anything. This only happens when the content of the video is actually dark at the moment (eg shadows, at night). When the content of the video switches back to something brighter (eg daylight) the brightness is going up again and everything is fine.
When the screen goes dark and I move the mouse (to bring up the player controls), the screen switches back to bright right away. Until the controls go away, then the screen goes back to dark. I've also tried to play the video in other player and the same problem doesn't appear. Interesting to note is also that this only happens when playing videos in itunes in full screen, when the player isn't in full screen the screen doesn't dim.
I've checked the energy saver and accessibility settings and nothing is set to dim the display. I've also turned off any energy saving settings on my tv. However, as this only happens in itunes and not with VLC I don't think this would be causing the problem anyway.
I'm using OS X Mavericks on a Mac Mini connected to a Samsung tv via HDMI.
Any help would be very much appreciated.

I just upgraded my tv from 55" led samsung tv 1080p 120hz, to a newer model samsung with the same specs but with smart capabilities. I've noticed that since the swapping of TVs, the dimming isn't nearly as prominent. While the dimming still happens, tweaking the settings of the tv may help out a bit. I know that on some of the movies/tv shows I've watched with the old settings, in especially dark scenes (horror and thrillers mostly) much of the experience was lost due to the inability to make out images on the screen because of the darkness. I'm still searching for solutions, and trying different things. It may help if we all post a list of what we are using, and any other info that might prove useful. Maybe we all having a setting turned in that is causing this.
TV= 55" Samsung 1080p 120Hz
Connection to TV = Rocketfish brand HDMI to Mini
- iTunes library is stored on a 4Tb hard drive to play content through computer. I pull content from the hard drive, I don't stream wirelessly.
- in iTunes I have the playback video set to always be on top of other windows, as well as in a separate window unless the window is full screened.
- my computer sleeps after 15 minutes. I can't remember if I have tried turning off the sleep function; however, I don't think this is what is effecting the playback because the dimming takes place in just a few seconds, rather than several minutes.
I have worked with Apple Support and tried several solutions suggested. I attempted to create a second user to confirm that it wasn't a setting I had changed for my personal login that was causing the dimming. I have re-installed iTunes and restored to default settings. I was told that maybe apps I had running in the background such as WJoY or Caffeine could possibly be causing interference, turning these background apps off didn't change anything.
Like I said, changing some of the settings on my TV helped. The only other work around that I might suggest until we find a solution, is moving the playback bar with the volume and ff/rw and play buttons to the corners utensil you can only see a small sliver, then leaving the cursor on top of the playback bar. This causes the bar to stay visible and not hide, whilst keeping mostly everything out of site. You'll still have the close screen (X) in the top left of the screen, and also be able to see the playback bar just a little bit, but it is better than nothing.

How to make the screen dim while music is playing

I can't get the screen to dim while playing music on my iPod Nano. It used to be that the screen dimmed while music was playing until it lit up when I hit a button to change volume, track, etc. This preserved the battery life. It seems that I inadvertantly changed some setting just a few days ago because I saw the apple logo appear on the screen and since then have not been able to figure out how to make the screen dim while playing music. I think the fact that the screen is staying on while I'm listening now is making the battery out very quickly. Does anyone know how to solve this problem? Thank you!

Hello ZingMA,
You need to reset the backlight timer.
Go to settings, general, and backlight. You should be able to set if from there. I am assuming you have a 6th gen nano. If you have a different model the user manuals have the steps. Found here:
iPod nanos
Hope this helps.
~Julian

Blue screen on start up. The wheel spin and the blue screen gets brighter for a second, then the blue screen dims and it repeats with the wheel.

When I start up my imac, I get a blue screen. The wheel spin and the screen gets brighter for a second, then the blue screen dims and it repeats with the wheel.

Are you referring to the startup screen which is normally gray with the dark gray Apple logo or are you referring the login screen which is typically blue? If it's the latter you might give this a try:
Clearing Caches to Fix Login Problem
You will need to type some Unix commands. If you are not comfortable with this, I don't know of anything other than a re-install. But if you are careful, you should be OK. I recommend you print this out in a largish mono-spaced font so you don't miss any spaces (or add extra ones). Note that case is important.
Be careful. Some of these commands are dangerous, since you are going to be root.
Start up in Single-user Mode. When this has finished you will see a prompt ending in '#', although there may be other messages. Enter the following commands after the prompt:
/sbin/fsck -fy
Press RETURN. Wait a few seconds for 8-10 lines of output. If the last line says repairs were carried out, repeat this command until you get a message 'The volume <yourdiskname> appears to be OK'. Then continue with:
/sbin/mount -uw /
cd /Library/Preferences
rm com.apple.loginwindow.plist
rm com.apple.windowserver.plist
cd /Library/Caches
rm -r *
cd /System/Library
cd /System/Library/Caches
rm -r *
reboot
Press RETURN after each command.
This should now take you to a proper login screen after the normal boot sequence. You should then Repair Permissions by using Disk Utility (in your /Applications/Utilities folder).
If it's the former then reinstall OS X. For Snow Leopard:
Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.

A magazine's app on my iPad has stopped working. When I open the Newsstand folder and click on the app, the screen dims briefly, then returns to the Newsstand folder. The other app in my Newsstand folder (Wall Street Journal) opens without any problem.

A magazine's app on my iPad has stopped working. When I open the Newsstand folder and click on the app, the screen dims briefly, then returns to the Newsstand folder. The other app in my Newsstand folder (Wall Street Journal) opens without any problem, and this magazine's app opens just fine on my wife's iPad.
I have deleted the app and reinstalled it from the Apple store and that makes no difference. I have also done a hard reboot on my iPad with no result.
Any thoughts about what might be wrong?

Hey everyone in Apple world!
I figured out how to fix the flashing yellow screen problem that I've been having on my MBP! Yessssss!!!
I found this super handy website with the golden answer: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
I followed the instructions on this page and here's what I did:
Resetting NVRAM / PRAM
Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.
I went through the 6 steps above twice, just to make sure I got rid of whatever stuff was holding up my bootup process. Since I did that, my MBP boots up just like normal. No flashing yellow screen anymore!!
(Note that I arrived at this solution when I first saw this page: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570?viewlocale=en_US)
Let me know if this works for you!
Elaine

Screen dimming

hey, i'm going to hook my macbook to my HDTV via the DVI adapter and then HDMI to the TV. My question is this: My Macbook has a screen dimming function, whether it's plugged into a wall socket or not after a short time of no operation the screen goes dim. Will the screen of my television go dim?
If so, how can I avoid this issue? I'm using Tiger and there seems no way to adjust this setting.

thanks for replying Simon. I have answered my question in a way. I don't know if the television set will dim but I've found out how to stop the dimming on the computer display in Tiger and on Leopard. You are right it's in Energy Saver settings. Uncheck the "Automatically reduce the brightness of the display before display sleep" this is in the options menu in Energy Saver. Then put the sliders on 'Never.'
Thanks

IMac 24" Aluminum screen dims like notebook

So this is kinda weird. For some reason if I do not do anything for a minute (move mouse, touch keyboard) the screen dims like on the notebooks when they try to save power. Something tells me this isn't right... Anyone have any ideas or experiencing the something?

Google: [10.4.12 ?|http://www.google.com/custom?q=10.4.12+?&sa=Search&client=pub-626330033301395 7&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT:%23008000;GL:1;DIV:%23336699;VLC: 663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000F F;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;&hl=en]

External screen dims when opening different apps?

Hi All ----
Seems my external screen dims and rectifies when opening different apps - like some kind of brightness adjustment going on... it doesnt happen on the MBP, just on the external screen --- i've checked all possible settings on Ext. Displ. / re-booted / repaired perms... cant quite figure it out.
I dont think this is energy-saver related.
Many thnx for any help in adv. ---
cheers,
J.

The problem with that is, it's hard to put it back together without assuring that you're not pinching the cable again.
Instructions can be found here.
As he says, the cable can be found at Small Dog Electronics:
http://www.smalldog.com/product/43417
If you need replacement feet, they can be found at MicroDoc.
The specific link you need on PowerBook Tech's website can be found here.
If it looks like too much for you to handle, you may want to check out DT & T Computer Services. Perhaps in a metropolitan area like Austin you can check the Yellow Pages and find a technician willing to match the price.
At one point, DominionTech in Colchester, Vermont was offering the repair for $79.90, but I'm not sure if that price is still available.
Good luck.

Screen dimming issue (?)

Hi, sometimes, (usually when web surfing) my screen dims on its own, at first I thought there was a problem with the screen, but then I realized that the brightness meter does go down, and raises again if I press the brightness button, BUT when its going down, the brightness does NOT display on screen, it just goes down... Also, it is like crazy drastic, it just dims enough to **** me off, like a few notches, very annoying, its been driving me crazzy since I bought it just never thought to ask anyone for help... Any ideas how to fix this?

Go to System Preferences Hardware Displays and uncheck the box for "Automatically adjust brightness as ambient light changes".
Then go to the Energy Saver and uncheck "Slightly dim the display when using this power source" for the Power Adapter and the Battery selections.

Screen dimming without selecting it to do so!!

Hi, I am a Macbook newbie and am sorting through some teething issues. The latest is that I have selected in my power setting 'custom' this selection has delays of 35 mins for screensaver and 40 mins for screen off. Now my question is this,I have NOT checked the 'dim screen before screen off' selection, but after 5-8 mins the screen dims down. moving the mouse puts it on full again..
I know it should do that on battery but this is on AC and on my own custom setting...
Any insight?
Also one more question, why does firefox display selection boxes in a crappy square manner whereas Safari (which I cant use as it is incompatible with a lot of websites) has nice little rounded glowing blue boxes?
weird
Steve

Well that just makes my macbook crazy then!! I really do not understand the dimming when NOTHING is selected for it to do so.. anyone else have dimming?
Oh and regards to safari, it does not work with yahoo mail, my university peoplesoft network thing, and nearly all of the major companies I have been applying to in the last few weeks (final year at uni!) one even required WINDOWS XP I had to go and use the cluster down the road to do their online test...
Firefox covers most of the problems apart from the last one.
Although it seems to load images quite slowly on our 10mbps lan...

Screen dimming delay . . .

I upgraded my iPhone 3G to 4.0.1 (quick and painless unlike the 4.0 release which was 9+ hours) last night and have noticed this morning that the time it takes for the screen to dim (before eventually turning off) after a period of inactivity has dramatically reduced. I can't remember the time that it took before as it was quite a lengthy delay, but now I reckon it's a period of approx 40 seconds before the screen dims. I think it used to be a couple of minutes. Has anyone else noticed this? Also is there any way to alter this timing (just like a MBP or iMac display in the Energy Saver System Pref Pane).
As always, any advice appreciated.

Neil was correct - auto-lock controls how long before the screen dims, followed shortly after by the phone locking. Passcode lock is a separate function. If you set auto-lock to never your screen won't dim. I suspect it's set to 1 minute at present =0)

Screen Dimming Setting Problems. . .

Wondering if anyone else is experiencing this: In system preferences energy saver/options I have checked "automatically reduce brightness of display before sleep." The problem is that if I don't check that - -which I would prefer not - - my screen goes dark after about 60-90 seconds of inactivity. My ideal is to not have the screen dim and then go to screensaver but apparently there is no way to do this.
My question:Do others have this problem? If you solved it, how? All suggestions appreciated.
Thanks!

I talked to a product specialist from Apple (through Applecare after waiting for an hour!) and he acknowledged it is not supposed to behave the way you and I are describing. He sent m a little program that does a "data dump" which I then emailed back to him which he sent on to the engineers, and they are supposed to get back to me the next couple of days. We'll see.
Obviously, you're in the same boat. I find it totally obnoxious to have to touch the trackpad every minute or so to keep the screen bright. Major glitch.
I'll post again if Apple solves this one. . .

Screen Dimming still - after unchecking 'ambient brigthness settings

I've turned off the ambient light settings under display, but still the screen dims then turns off, while on AC power.
How do I turn this off so that the brightness stays as is! (And just let the screen saver kick in as set)
Please help.
Thanks!

Systems Preferences | Energy Saver | Options
DeSelect automatically reduce the brightness of the display before display sleep

Screen Dimming & Volume Loss

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